Hat Day Lunch

Molly's school is having another Funky Friday$ day tomorrow.  They are collecting money for a new playground.  Each student that participates pays $1 to do what ever that funky thing is.  Tomorrow is hat day and every student is allowed to wear a hat, which is normally not allowed.  Molly is very excited to wear her Hello Kitty fedora.  She laid out her special matching Hello Kitty outfit and can't wait till morning for hat day.

Our main entree is a hat sandwich.  We cut out or whole grain white bread into the shape of a hat and used our food safe markers to decorate it.  Then, we filled it with salami and colby jack cheese, per Molly's request.

Our vegetable side is orange mini peppers.  We cut these peppers into rings and put a cute little purple hat on top of them.  We found these hats (this and the one on the fruit) at a local bake shop.  It's so much fun to find great little treasures, even if we don't quite know what we are going to do with them.

Our fruit side is a kiwi.  We cut the kiwi in half and then into slices so that it's easier to eat.  We also added a fun little pink hat on the top to keep with our theme.

Our dairy side is a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick.  Since there is no yogurt, we're confident that Molly will be needing a little bit extra to eat.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is dessert hats.  We used fudge stripe cookies for the base, added a mini Reese's peanut butter cup and attached them with some melted red chocolate.  Then we added a little decoration to them because hats are more fun with embellishments.

Trader Joe's Inspired Lunch

We made a run out to Trader Joe's yesterday to pick up a few essentials and some other goodies.  We just love Trader Joe's and heard a rumor that there might be one opening much closer to where we live.  It's about a 20 minute drive from where we are right now, but totally worth it!

Our main entree is a Trader Joe's mini Cinnamon Raisin bagel sandwich.  What's better with a bagel than cream cheese?  We added some whipped cream cheese and sandwiched it together.  We also added a little bow pick for fun.

Our vegetable side is Snap Peas Crisps.  These are a fantastic alternative to potato chips.  They are crispy, crunchy and salty.  The best part is that they are made with peas and baked so they are very healthy.  We added a pink flower pick to this container for a reminder of spring.

Our fruit side is strawberries.  These are still from the fresh picked batch of strawberries that Grammy got for us.  All four quarts are almost gone.  To say that we like strawberries at our house would be an understatement.  We added a small dragonfly ring to this container because Molly really likes when we put rings in her lunch.

Our dairy side is a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick.  We think that Molly might be a little hungry (she didn't eat a lot at dinner tonight) so this is the perfect add on.

Finally, our dessert is peach yogurt.  Molly really likes to put her strawberries into her yogurt and peaches and strawberries are a great pairing.

Pizza Friday!

Thing 2 graduated from preschool today and it was awesome.  The four of us, along with Grammy and Papa, watched as she sang her songs and received her diploma on the stage.  (sniff...sniff...)  She will be joining the ranks at the Elementary School in Kindergarten next year!  That also means that she will be the lucky recipient of a new Laptop Lunchbox of her own and get fun lunches just like Molly.

For now, we're still sticking with lunch just for Molly.  A Fun Friday of yumminess!

Our main entree is cheese pizza.  We picked up a "take and bake" pizza at the grocery store today after graduation so that we'd have an easy dinner.  There were plenty of leftovers so Molly is getting a slice in her lunch tomorrow.

Our vegetable side is a mini cucumber.  We sliced these into little nickle slices so that Molly can just pop them in her mouth.  They are SUPER crunchy and delicious.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  It's the merry berry month of May here in Pittsburgh so the strawberries are plentiful and amazingly scrumptious!

Our dairy side is a mozzarella and cheddar cheese stick.  We wanted to add a little extra protein so that Molly wasn't starving at the end of the day.

Finally, our Fun Friday treat is a soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie.  We picked these up as a special treat for Thing 2's special day.  The kids went gaga over them.

Fun Friday Lunch

Molly had an absolute blast at "Yo Vikings!" today.  She loved how the book came to life and the fact that the main character had such a vivid imagination, kind of like our Molly.  I'm so happy that we live in a city where a short bus ride can offer awesome theater, music and world class museums plus an incredible zoo.  The "burgh" sure is a great place to live.

Our main entree is turkey pepperoni, crackers and cheese.  Molly requested this just before bed tonight.  Sometimes, she's all about the finger food.

Our vegetable side is sugar snap peas.  These looked so yummy at the store yesterday, that we had to pick them up.  They are sweet, crunchy and juicy.

Our fruit side is a mix of berries.  One of our local grocery stores has raspberries 2/$3 so we loaded up.  We added a few blueberries and blackberries too.

Our dairy is plain old vanilla yogurt....but we added some fun sprinkles to liven it up a bit.  The weekend is almost here so we're ready to celebrate!

Finally, our fun Friday treat is an Archer Farms Organic blueberry fruit strip.  We purchase these at Target all of the time and they usually serve as an after school snack or an accompaniment to yogurt at breakfast, which means that there aren't any left for lunch.  We held on to one just for Friday.

*Happy Mother's Day to all of you Mommies out there!  My plan is to sleep in and that is enough for me.  ☺

Marathon Lunch

If you follow this blog, you may know that Molly's Daddy and I will be running the Pittsburgh Half Marathon this Sunday.  This is Daddy's second half marathon and Mommy's 1st.  I'm excited and terrified at the same time.  I trust in my training and the shape that my body is in so I'm confident that it will be an absolute blast.

In honor of this massively amazing event, we decided to theme Molly's lunch with fun little bits from our training as "Runners of Steel" in our awesome city.

Our main entree is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  We used whole grain white bread, spread on some natural peanut butter and low sugar strawberry jam.  Then, we used our food safe markers to create a running shoe.

Our vegetable side is frozen peas.  These will thaw down and be a great cool addition.  The peas remind us of the little sport jelly beans that we use to fuel during long runs.  They are also a great source natural carbohydrate, something that runners are always looking for.

Our fruit side is a banana with some Nutella inside of it.  Runners love bananas for potassium and a quick sugar boost with carbohydrate.  We also added the word RUN using a strawberry fruit leather and our alphabet micro cookie cutters.

Our dairy side is a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick.  This is a great source of protein.  A runner needs a certain amount of protein to fuel their muscles and keep their appetite satisfied long after the carbohydrates have burned off.

Finally, our dessert is Mommy's favorite post race snack.  Pretzels with a few dark chocolate chips.  The salt helps to keep electrolytes in check and the chocolate, well, it's dark chocolate...enough said.

Best of luck to our fellow Runners of Steel as we all tackle the City of Bridges!

Brother's Birthday!!!

Monday is Molly's little brother's 3rd birthday!!!  We are so excited to watch him hit this milestone.  The year that he starts preschool on his own.  The year that he really becomes a little boy in his actions and looks.  (Yes, I had a hard time typing that since he's my baby.)

We have a lot of fun things planned for the day from homemade doughnuts (baked with our Babycakes doughnut maker) to plans for breakfast for dinner.  He LOVES breakfast.

Molly can't wait for the school day to be over so that she can participate in the celebration.  She and her sister made some beautiful birthday cards and are giddy with anticipation to give them to their little brother.  School first, then the party!

Our main entree is a turkey and smoked Gouda sandwich on 12 Grain bread.  We used some fun cookie cutters to make these shapes, then put smiley faces on the circles and a heart on the diamond with our food safe markers.
*We recently won a contest by Chef Corey at Family Fresh Meals and will be trying FunBites with one of our sandwiches in the very near future.  Thanks Chef Corey!!!  (Be sure to click on the link to check out her blog.  She has some incredible recipes and ideas.  Lots of inspiration!)

Our vegetable side is sliced cucumbers and small golden tomatoes.  Molly had some cucumbers today and requested them in her lunch.  We decided to add the tomatoes because they looked so yummy.

Our fruit side is sliced strawberries.  The smell of these strawberries just reminds us of summer and all of the wonderful flavors that await us.  (After we get 6 inches of snow overnight.  Yep, the northeast is supposed to be blasted with a winter storm tonight.  booo!)

Our dairy side is a cheddar/mozzarella cheese stick.  This will hopefully help to keep Molly full.

Finally, our dessert is a Chobani Champions Chocolate Chunk Greek yogurt.  Some things are always perfect!

Pantry Raid Lunch

It was a late night for us so we did a sweep of the refrigerator for Molly's lunch tomorrow.  Sometimes, leftovers and those pantry/fridge staples are all you need to make a yummy lunch.

Our main entree is pasta salad.  We used some leftover whole grain thin spaghetti, turkey pepperoni, black olives, mozzarella cheese and some light Italian dressing to make one of Molly's favorite lunches.

Our vegetable side is a green salad with a couple of small yellow tomatoes.  We added a small side of light Italian dressing to keep with the flavors of the spaghetti salad.

Our fruit side is a clementine.  We like to keep these on hand at our house since they are such a big hit with all five of us.

Our dairy side is a cheddar/mozzarella cheese stick.  Since there isn't a lot of protein in the spaghetti salad, we added this so that Molly won't get too hungry by the time the final bell rings.

Finally, our dessert is a Chobani Champions Chocolate Chunk Greek Yogurt.  Another favorite because it tastes SO good!

Different Lunch

We're switching things up a little bit.  Molly's dessert is a bit non-traditional and in the container that usually houses our main entree.  Our vegetable might be considered our main entree and one of our sides is usually a main entree.  Gotta keep her on her toes!

Our main entree/side is cheese tortellini pasta salad.  We had about a dozen of these left over from our dinner and decided to use them for a side.  We put some light Italian dressing on it and added a little plastic spider for fun.

Our vegetable side is cut veggies and hummus.  We sliced up some red peppers, some carrots and added sugar snap peas.  We put about 2 tablespoons of red pepper hummus in a small container for Molly to dip her veggies in.

Our fruit side is a kiwi.  We slices this after peeling it and placed one slice on top because it reminds us of monster eyes.

Our dairy side is a cheese stick.  Since we don't have any yogurt and only hummus as our protein, we figured that this would be a nice addition.

Our dessert...well, the closest thing to a dessert is a peanut butter and nutella roll.  We used a hamburger roll and spread peanut butter on one side and nutella on the other.  We then cut it into pieces and added a little Halloween pumpkin pick.

Tooth Fairy Tale

As most of you know, Molly lost her first tooth on Tuesday.  I promised a follow up but got sick so, here is the follow up a day later.

There it is!  The missing tooth!  Molly is a little late in losing her teeth (almost 7 1/2 years old) but then again, she was just shy of her first birthday when the first one came in.  She is so happy to be just like everyone else.    I think that she was mostly excited to have a visit from the Tooth Fairy.  She woke up the next morning and it was like Christmas.  She was so excited to show everyone what the Tooth Fairy brought.  Here it is....

She got a certificate from the Tooth Fairy, a new Hello Kitty toothbrush, a small bag of tooth flossers, a Camp Rock lip balm and a one dollar bill that was folded into an origami heart.  She understands that the plethora of "loot" only comes with the first tooth and it will be a dollar from now on, as per her friends and classmates.

Now on to her Fun Friday lunch!  We were part of a photo contest through Laptop Lunches on Facebook and got a ton of inspiration from the other contestants.  Thanks for the ideas!!!

Our main entree/fruit is apple sandwiches.  We sliced a large honey crisp apple into thick slices, used a cookie cutter to cut out the core, then spread peanut butter on one side, Trader Joe's Fleur De Sel Caramel Sauce on the other and sandwiched them together.  We added a little gold star pick so that Molly knows what a star she is.  She needs a little extra encouragement for her spelling test.

*side note - We think that the Trader Joe's Fleur De Sel Caramel Sauce would make a flip flop taste good.  All you need is a spoon!

Our vegetable side is missing!  We are planning on grilled vegetable salads for dinner tomorrow night, so she'll be fine with missing her veggies at lunch.

Our dairy side is blueberry yogurt.  We have several varieties and figured that blueberry would be nice change.

Our Fun Friday treats are Trader Joe's Ginger Cats cookies and two Frooties Tootsie Rolls.  Molly adores the Ginger Cat cookies because they are very delicious and they help her nervous stomach.  Also, we went for our annual trek to Baldinger's Candy Store this past weekend so we had to include a little something from there.  

Have a great weekend everyone!  

Thursday, By Request

We are looking forward to a fun weekend with more Fall traditions.  We're hoping that the weather will cooperate so that we can see some great fall colors, picnic and play outside.  The kids know that something is going on but I'm not sure if they realize exactly where we are going or what we are doing.

But, we have to get through the rest of the week first.  Molly requested everything in this lunch and it made it much easier to prepare.  So, only one more lunch to prepare before the weekend!  Can you tell that I'm excited? ☺

Our main entree is pasta salad.  We made some choo choo wheel pasta, added turkey pepperoni, provolone cheese, tomatoes, black olives and light Italian dressing.  This is a go-to lunch for Molly because she really likes any type of pasta.

Our vegetable side is cucumbers.  We used our crinkle knife to cut these up.  Molly had a huge smile on her face when I showed her.

Our fruit side is a Valencia orange.  This variety of orange is super sweet and juicy.  When I was living in Florida, Valencia oranges and Valencia orange juice was a must have in the fall/winter season.

Our dairy side is a cheese stick.  Molly requested this because she said it would taste good with the pasta salad since there was already cheese in it.  Interesting deduction but we'll take it.

Finally, our dessert is strawberry yogurt.  She has this the other day and really enjoyed it, so on the request list it went.

Special Treat

We are so excited to have a beautiful couple of days ahead of us.  As I have mentioned before, fall is my absolute favorite time of year.  There are cool and breezy days, warm and sunny days and gray and rainy days.  Each of them has their own pluses.  The cool and breezy days are fantastic to spend time outside, running around and playing in piles of leaves.  The warm and sunny days remind us of the wonderful summer that is slowly finishing its long good-bye.  Finally, the gray and rainy days are perfect for cuddling up under a warm blanket and snuggling into a good book with a cup of hot apple cider.  The next few days are promising to be warm and sunny but not too hot.  We have great plans with family and friends and we just can't wait!

Molly will be buying lunch on Friday (per her request) so we gave her a special treat one day early.

Our main entree is a salami sandwich.  We used Genoa salami, pepper-jack cheese and mustard on whole grain white bread.  We cut the crusts off and then cut the sandwich into quarters and served it point side up.

Our vegetable side is red and orange peppers.  They are cool, juicy and refreshing.  The crunch on these is perfect too.

Our fruit side is more honey crisp apples.  Molly liked the way that we prepared them for today's lunch so we did the exact same thing.

Our dairy side is a cheddar-mozzarella cheese stick.  Molly keeps requesting that these be added to her lunch so that she can keep from being hungry at the end of the day.

Finally, our Fun Friday (a day early) treat is Fit and Active S'mores Mini Drizzled Crisps.  They are light, crunchy and sweet and do not taste like something that would be considered healthy.  Molly and her siblings are huge fans of these.

Fall Breakfast

Fall is by far my favorite season.  The weather cools down and we get to play outside in sweaters and hoodies.  We can buy fresh apples from the orchard in town and pick pumpkins ourselves.  We get one of our favorite beverages, apple cider, from the same orchard.  Football is in full swing and Halloween is right around the corner.  Mums, scarecrows, haystacks, pumpkins and corn stalks adorn the neighborhood as if welcoming fall.  My absolute favorite part of fall though, is the smell.  I lived in Florida and I would have to come home to PA just to get a big breath of the fresh fall air.  There is nothing like it.  I'm convinced that heaven smells like fall in Western Pennsylvania.

Our main entree is a waffle sandwich.  Our waffles are the new Kellogg's Limited Edition Eggo Pumpkin Spice Waffles.  They are so delicious!  These have a true fall flavor with lots of cinnamon and pumpkin.  We added whipped cream cheese to the center and made a sandwich out of it. 


Our snack side is Pepperidge Farm Pretzel Goldfish.  We figured that a little crunch and salt would be a nice addition to this lunch.


Our fruit side is a Honey Crisp Apple.  These are such amazing apples.  They truly taste like apple cider and the sweetness is incredible.  We chopped these into chunks to make it easier for Molly to eat them.


Our dairy side is a cheddar mozzarella cheese stick.  Molly said that these really help her to stay full for the entire school day.


Finally, our dessert is vanilla yogurt.  We tossed a few sprinkles on top for fun.  These are fall themed sprinkles and even have little pumpkins in them.

Tuesday with a Treat

Molly is doing her best to feel better.  Poor thing still sounds like a dog barking when she coughs and she seems more sleepy than usual but she's powering through it.  What's really nice is that the teachers at her school are so open to help the kids that need to miss school.  The librarian told Molly to come in early and exchange her books so that she doesn't miss out on reading something new since Molly loves to read.  The art teacher told her that she could come in during recess if she wanted to get caught up on her art project.  I was also surprised that Molly only had a few extra papers in her folder to do as make up work.  I'm very thankful for such a spectacular array of teachers at Molly's school.

Our main entrée is a turkey sandwich with pepper jack cheese on whole grain bread.  We added Molly's favorite mustard and cut the sandwich into small triangles.

Our vegetable side is red pepper slices and cucumber halves.  We figured that this crunchy duo would be a nice accompaniment to her sandwich.

Our fruit side is apple slices and blueberries.  Molly has been asking for an apple in her lunch and blueberries are a favorite of everyone in our family.  They make a nice little mix.

We added a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick for a little extra calcium and protein.

Finally, we added a little treat for our girl.  She is trying her hardest to feel better and keep up with her schooling so we added some Care Bear fruit snacks for a bonus to her lunch.

We'll See

Poor Molly can't win.  She is just over that awful stomach flu and now she has a cough and cold.  She looks terrible and all I can do is just give her lots of love.  I think that when your child is sick, it eats away at you as a parent.  So, we'll see what the morning brings for our favorite 1st grader and whether she'll eat lunch at home or at school.  Say a little prayer for her that she gets well and stays well.

Our main entrée is a "tea sandwich".  Molly's Grammy picked up some Irish soda bread for our family and since Molly really likes it, we figured that it would be a nice comfort food for her.  We spread cinnamon honey butter on the two slices to keep them moist.

Our fruit side is a kiwi and a clementine.  These both have a sweet and tart flavor that will both taste great and feel great on Molly's sore throat.

Our vegetable side is a yellow bell pepper.  A nice crunch with a mild flavor.

Our dessert/dairy side is Dannon Light and Fit vanilla yogurt.  Molly requested this because she said it will help her tummy feel better.

Finally, we added a cheddar and mozzarella cheese stick to add some protein to Molly's lunch.  We're not sure if she'll even eat it but just in case, we decided to add it.